Elemental Technologies has grown to more than $20 million in revenue by supplying software and hardware that helps video speed its way down the digital stream.
With the addition of Isilon Systems co-founder Sujal Patel to the board of directors, the company is looking for guidance in expanding into new businesses, such as helping the government handle vast amounts of high-resolution video from national security operations.
Patel—who is leaving Isilon acquirer EMC, but will still consult with the data-storage giant over the next year—already did what Elemental chief executive Sam Blackman wants to do with his company.
“I really admired what [Patel] did at Isilon,” Blackman tells me. “Specifically, the fact that he was able to take a company that was really focused on selling into the media and entertainment vertical, and leveraging technology that had applications more broadly than that.”
Portland, OR-based Elemental’s core business for the last six years has been software and services to help video providers easily customize content for the growing range of devices people are using, from laptops to tablets to phones. The company’s biggest customers are in the media and entertainment industry.
“But over time, video technology will play a critical role in verticals such as government, enterprise, education and e-learning,” Blackman says.
The government sector, and the huge amounts of video used in national security in particular, will be a focus in 2013. Elemental took an early investment from
